Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Tues 03.30.2010
CIA: Iran capable of producing nukes By Bill Gertz - WashingtonTimes.com Iran is poised to begin producing nuclear weapons after its uranium program expansion in 2009, even though it has had problems with thousands of its centrifuges, according to a newly released CIA report. "Iran continues to develop a range of capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear weapons, if a decision is made to do so," the annual report to Congress states. A U.S. official involved in countering weapons proliferation said the Iranians are "keeping the door open to the possibility of building a nuclear weapon."
Hollow recovery Robert Higgs - NYTimes.com Growth without more jobs and rising incomes The Federal Reserve on March 15 reported that industrial production increased 0.1 percent in February. Before the politicians start celebrating, they should realize that credit goes to the winter weather - which boosted mining and utility production by increasing energy demand - not to their "stimulus." Indeed, while overall industrial production rose slightly in February, manufacturing fell by 0.2 percent. Meaning, the recovery's strength remains unimpressive. Consider personal income. According to the Commerce Department, personal income declined in 42 states last year. It rose in just six states and the District of Columbia, where government payments were the driving force.
Can Obama avert a fiscal catastrophe? By Fred Hiatt - WashingtonPost.com Last summer President Obama told me that once health reform became law, he could pivot to the "broader structural changes" needed to bring the federal deficit under control. Without health reform, he said during a July telephone interview, there would be no hope for fiscal reform. With it, he would be in a position to "start laying out a broader picture about how we are going to handle entitlements in a serious way." Well, it's been six days since he signed the bill, and he still hasn't saved Social Security. Just kidding. We can give him another day or two. But the long-term threat is no joke, as Obama has acknowledged many times. If Obama does not pivot, the country will be in serious trouble.
Obama Transcends Ideology by Riling Both Flanks Commentary by Albert R. Hunt March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama, charges former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, is “the most liberal president” in modern times, pursuing “an agenda that really is foreign to mainstream America.” Other Republicans routinely talk about the president’s “socialist” agenda. Simultaneously, the left wing says he’s a traitor to their cause. Liberal bloggers regularly accuse him of selling out to corporate interests, claiming that he has failed to keep his campaign commitments. Former Democratic Party Chairman and ex-presidential candidate Howard Dean has echoed some of these sentiments.
Why Your Grandfather's Economics Was Better Than Yours Steven Kates presents the Ludwig von Mises Memorial Lecture at the 2010 Austrian Scholars Conference. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno. The ASC is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, and is for scholars interested or working in this intellectual tradition. Held at the Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama, March 11-13, 2010.
Rapid Rise in US Budget Deficit Projection By: Reported by Steve Liesman, written by Michelle Lodge - CNBC.com -- Many Americans know the deficit has exploded this year. What may be less well-known is that the problem is not confined to this year or next, but stretches out at least a decade and represents a historic, multi-trillion-dollar change in the country's fiscal fortunes. CNBC, working with the Congressional Budget Office, found that the 10-year outlook for the nation's deficit has deteriorated by almost $8 trillion. In effect, every man, woman and child in the United States has taken on an extra $25,000 in debt, CNBC has learned.
Gold rises as dollar weakens; China demand seen growing By Nick Godt & Claudia Assis, MarketWatch Commerzbank sees potential for retracement to $1,100 this week NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose Monday on dollar weakness, improved market sentiment, and expectations that Chinese demand for gold could double in the next 10 years. Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, settled $6.10 higher, or 0.5%, at $1,111.50 an ounce by the close of floor trading in New York. The shortened trading week leading up to Good Friday and Easter opened with commodities moving broadly higher as investors embraced prospects that a worldwide economic recovery is on track.
Gold Near Highest in a Week as Economic Optimism Lifts Stocks By Kim Kyoungwha -- March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Gold traded near a one-week high as Asian stocks gained after higher U.S. consumer spending and improving confidence in Europe bolstered optimism that the global economy is on course for a recovery. Gold for immediate delivery fluctuated between a gain of 0.2 percent and a loss of 0.1 percent and last traded $1.07 lower at $1,108.65 an ounce at 9:18 a.m. in Singapore. The metal is headed for a quarterly gain of 1.1 percent, after advancing 8.9 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31.
China gold demand to double, mines may drain WASHINGTON (Commodity Online) : World Gold Council on Monday said world’s largest gold producer China’s gold demand is expected to double over the next decade. In a report, WGC said China’s domestic gold demand is expected to double from current levels over the next decade due to jewellery consumption and investment needs. But China's domestic gold mines may be exhausted within six years, the council said
In gold we trust Alexandra A. Seno - Globe and Mail In the cool weather of the first few months of the year, India’s wedding season swings into high gear. Indian brides and grooms of means like to stage lavish celebrations, and on display at those nuptials is another grand Indian love affair: gold, for which the country has had a long-standing affection. India is the world’s biggest consumer of the commodity, and much of it goes into women’s jewellery.
China's gold demand "snowballing", WGC says By Tom Miles and Eadie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) - China's gold demand is expected to double over the next decade due to jewellery consumption and investment needs, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in its first report on the world's fastest growing consumer of the metal. Currently the world's second-largest gold consumer after India, China has seen its gold demand grow at an average rate of 13 percent per year over the past five years.
China emerging as largest gold consumer: WGC BEIJING (Commodity Online): Gold is glittering in China, the largest producer and second biggest consumer of the yellow metal in the world. There is a gold buying frenzy across China that the yellow metal is becoming the best investment bet in the country. According to a report from the World Gold Council (WGC), China has emerged as the largest and fastest growing consumer of gold in the world, overtaking India. Currently, though India is the biggest gold consumer, growing demand and increasing appetite for the yellow metal in the Chinese rural areas and towns are making the dragon country a truely ‘golden country.’
Dollar Near Week Low Versus Euro as Recovery Saps Safety Demand By Yoshiaki Nohara and Ron Harui March 30 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar traded near a one-week low against the euro as signs the global economy is improving damped demand for the U.S. currency as a refuge. The greenback was close to the lowest level in a week versus the Australian currency before reports today that may show France’s economy grew at the fastest pace since March 2009 and U.S. consumer confidence rebounded. The yen rose against the euro, snapping a four-day loss, on speculation exporters took advantage of its slide to the lowest level in almost two weeks to buy the currency. Australia’s dollar also held onto yesterday’s gains after commodity prices surged.
Prepare for the Worst Presented by Congressman Ron Paul at "The Failure of the Keynesian State," the Mises Circle in Houston, sponsored by Jeremy S. Davis. Recorded Saturday, 23 January 2010. Includes introductory remarks by Mises Institute president Douglas E. French, and by Institute founder and chairman Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr..
Greece Raises $6.7 Billion in Bond Sale By DAVID JOLLY - NYTimes.com Just days after European Union leaders agreed to stand behind Greece as it struggled to restore its public finances, the authorities in Athens put their new guarantee to the test Monday, selling 5 billion euros of seven-year bonds to refinance debt. The bonds, worth $6.7 billion, were priced to yield 6 percent, according to banks that managed the sale, meaning that Greece was paying a princely 3.34 percentage points above what Germany, considered the European benchmark, pays to borrow at a similar maturity. It was also well above the rates paid by the governments of Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy, other countries where indebtedness has caused concern.
Greece Pays Bond Investors 5 Times Spain Yield Spread By Caroline Hyde and Sonja Cheung March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Greece, the European Union’s most indebted member, offered more than five times the yield premium of comparable Spanish debt to lure investors to its first bond sale since a bailout was agreed to for the nation. Greece priced the 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion) of seven- year bonds to yield 310 basis points more than the benchmark mid-swap rate, according to a banker involved in the transaction, who declined to be identified before the sale is completed.
Greece to Issue Seven-Year Bond By CLARE CONNAGHAN And MARK BROWN - WSJ.com Greece continued to pay a stiff premium Monday to raise €5 billion ($6.71 billion) in its third syndicated bond offering of the year, a demonstration that the announcement last week of a possible European Union rescue package has done little to lower the troubled country's high cost of borrowing. Compared with Greece's two previous bond issues in 2010, demand was relatively subdued. The seven-year bond attracted around €7 billion in bids. Greece's two earlier bond offerings this year had seen bids totaling three times what was eventually sold. Greece is paying a coupon of 5.9% on the new bond, more than twice what Germany—Europe's safest credit—pays for comparable borrowing.
Sarkozy, Obama set to face off for market control By David M. Dickson - WashingtonTimes.com Two very different visions on how to regulate markets and prevent the next world economic crisis will clash when President Obama hosts French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the White House on Tuesday. Even as Mr. Obama spars with congressional Republicans over tougher regulations of the U.S. financial markets, he faces criticism from Mr. Sarkozy and other Western European leaders that Washington is being too timid, criticisms that Mr. Sarkozy repeated in only slightly veiled form the day before his Washington stop.
The Ballad of Sallie Mae WSJ.com - A cautionary tale of public subsidy and arbitrary politics. President Obama today signs his nationalization of the college student loan market, which will put the Department of Education directly in charge of doling out cash to students and colleges. It's one more plank in the cradle-to-grave entitlement state, but this landmark is also a good moment to recount the rise and fall of Sallie Mae. It's a cautionary tale for our times about public subsidy, arbitrary politics and doing business with the government.
Treasury to begin selling Citi shares WashingtonTimes.com NEW YORK (AP) -- The Treasury Department said Monday it will begin selling the stake it owns in Citigroup Inc., which could result in a profit of more than $8 billion. The government received 7.7 billion shares of Citigroup in exchange for $25 billion it gave the bank during the 2008 credit crisis. It said it will sell the shares over the course of this year, depending on market conditions. Like any investor, the government likely will hold on to its shares if prices fall steeply. However, Citi shares have been rising steadily with the broader market in recent months, which means the Treasury Department stands to pocket a hefty profit. Citi shares rose 8 cents to $4.39 in early trading Monday. The government would make about $8.8 billion in profit on its stake in Citigroup if it sells the stock for $4.39 a share. The Treasury Department received its stock for a price of $3.25 a share last year.
U.S. Treasury Plans to Sell Citigroup Common Shares in 2010 By Michael J. Moore and Rebecca Christie March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc.’s largest shareholder, the U.S. Treasury Department, is planning to sell its 27 percent stake this year in what could become the biggest profit for the bank-bailout program. The Treasury will dispose of its 7.7 billion common shares of New York-based Citigroup over the course of 2010 using a “pre-arranged written trading plan,” the agency said yesterday in a statement. The Treasury’s stake had a market value of $32.2 billion as of yesterday’s closing price, for a paper profit of $7.2 billion.
S.E.C. Looks at Wall St. Accounting By LOUISE STORY - NYTimes.com The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday it had started an inquiry into about two dozen financial companies to determine whether they followed accounting practices similar to those recently disclosed in an investigation of Lehman Brothers. The commission is interested in transactions known as repurchase agreements, which are a common way that investment banks provide funds for trading activities. The commission wants to know whether other Wall Street players used tactics like those that Lehman used to mask their debt levels from investors.
Rothschilds Bring In an Outsider to Run the Show By JULIA WERDIGIER - NYTimes.com LONDON — More than 200 years ago a German banker, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, sent his five sons to different European cities to guarantee the survival of what became one of the most prominent banking dynasties. This month, his great-great-great-grandson David de Rothschild, a baron, took an equally unusual step to ensure the future of the family-owned firm: For the first time, he passed some responsibilities of running Rothschild to someone outside the family.
Punks and Plutocrats By PAUL KRUGMAN - NYTimes.com Health reform is the law of the land. Next up: financial reform. But will it happen? The White House is optimistic, because it believes that Republicans won’t want to be cast as allies of Wall Street. I’m not so sure. The key question is how many senators believe that they can get away with claiming that war is peace, slavery is freedom, and regulating big banks is doing those big banks a favor. Some background: we used to have a workable system for avoiding financial crises, resting on a combination of government guarantees and regulation. On one side, bank deposits were insured, preventing a recurrence of the immense bank runs that were a central cause of the Great Depression. On the other side, banks were tightly regulated, so that they didn’t take advantage of government guarantees by running excessive risks.
Is America ‘Yearning for Fascism’? By Chris Hedges - TruthDig.com The language of violence always presages violence. I watched it in war after war from Latin America to the Balkans. The impoverishment of a working class and the snuffing out of hope and opportunity always produce angry mobs ready to kill and be killed. A bankrupt, liberal elite, which proves ineffectual against the rich and the criminal, always gets swept aside, in times of economic collapse, before thugs and demagogues emerge to play to the passions of the crowd. I have seen this drama. I know each act. I know how it ends. I have heard it in other tongues in other lands. I recognize the same stock characters, the buffoons, charlatans and fools, the same confused crowds and the same impotent and despised liberal class that deserves the hatred it engenders.
American Federalism and the Civil War Mises Daily: by Lord Acton Excerpted from a lecture delivered in 1866 and published in 1907 in Historical Essays and Studies. For many years before the outbreak of the Civil War, the United States had become an object of anxiety or of envy to many, of wonder and curiosity to all mankind. Their prosperity, attached by a thousand beneficent links to the prosperity of England, seemed even more splendid and more secure. The rapid growth of their population united the marvels of Lancashire with the marvels of Australia; it created vast cities, and peopled an enormous territory with their overflow.
The Constitutional Crisis Started Long Ago By Frank Salvato ChapitolHillCoffeeHouse.com The cry that our country is in the midst of a “constitutional crisis” is heard frequently in our society but those who are making the claim at this particular point in time are correct. The United States Constitution and the entirety of the Charters of Freedom are under attack and the well-being of our country, nay, its very existence as the Framers intended, hangs in the balance.
David Walker Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility David Walker, President, CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation; Former Comptroller General of the U.S.; Author, Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility One of Americas foremost independent financial experts, former comptroller general of the U.S. and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office from 1998-2008, Walker will discuss a range of compelling ideas, including how to control spending, save Social Security, dramatically alter our health-care system, reform our tax system and re-engineer the base of the federal government all taking into account the Obama administrations efforts to-date to do the same. He will address a range of policies and operational and political reforms needed to ensure that Americas future will be better than its past.
States Could Lose $1,400 Per Person Missed in 2010 Census Count By MATTHEW SCOTT - DailyFinance.com If you think all of those reminder notices asking you to send in your Census 2010 form by the suggested April 1 deadline date are overkill, think again. States could stand to lose an average of $1,400 for each person not counted. Even worse, taxpayers will end up footing the bill for the $1.5 billion it will cost to track down those who fail to send in the forms by mail.
No mail on Saturdays: The first step By Annalyn Censky NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Saturday mail could be one step closer to cancellation when the United States Postal Service submits an official proposal to a government regulatory board on Tuesday to eliminate six-day delivery. A new five-day delivery schedule could save the cash-strapped Post Office $3 billion annually, the agency said. Earlier this month, USPS said it plans to incur about $238 billion in losses in the next 10 years if it doesn't revamp its outdated business model.
$600 million in housing aid on the way for 5 more states By Hibah Yousuf - CNNMoney.com NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Five more states will receive federal funding to help troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure, the Obama administration announced Monday. Last month, President Obama unveiled the Hardest Hit Fund, which pumped $1.5 billion into state housing agencies in California, Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Michigan. These five were originally identified because they had been hardest hit by the housing bust, with prices declining more than 20%.
Subprime Debt Rallies as U.S. Enhances Loan Aid: Credit Markets By Jody Shenn March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Subprime-mortgage securities are rising at an accelerating pace as the U.S. begins to encourage reductions to homeowners’ balances, which may lead to fewer foreclosures and a quicker end to the housing slump. A Markit ABX index of credit-default swaps tied to 20 subprime-loan bonds rated AAA when created in the first half of 2006 climbed 3.2 percent last week to 49.1, the highest since January 2009, according to Markit Group Ltd.
Commercial Real Estate Collapse
Overqualified? Yes, but Happy to Have a Job By MICHAEL LUO - NYTimes.com GRANDVIEW, Mo. — Don Carroll, a former financial analyst with a master’s degree in business administration from a top university, was clearly overqualified for the job running the claims department for Cartwright International, a small, family-owned moving company here south of Kansas City. But he had been out of work for six months, and the department badly needed modernization after several decades of benign neglect. It turned out to be a perfect match.
Recession lightens wallets BY DAVE FLESSNER - TimesFreePress.com First drop in income since 1949 With nearly one in every five Americans out of work sometime during the past year, personal income fell for the first time in 60 years. The average Tennessean earned $744 less in 2009 than he or she did the previous year, according to a new government report. The income drop was even greater in Georgia, where per capita income fell by $1,063, according to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "The last time we had a decline in personal income was in 1949," said David Lenze, a spokesman for the bureau.
Thousands to lose jobless benefits April 5 By Jennifer Liberto WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- Extended jobless benefits will run out for at least 212,000 Americans out of work after April 5 because the Senate closed up shop Friday afternoon without a deal to extend filing deadlines. Senate Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on passing a House version of the extension of deadlines to apply for federal unemployment benefits and the COBRA health insurance subsidy.
Rep. Burgess: Government Can Force Us to Buy General Motors Products If Obamacare Mandate Upheld in Court By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter -- (CNSNews.com) – Representative Michael Burgess (R-Texas) told CNSNews.com that if the mandate in the health care law requiring individuals to purchase health insurance or be penalized is upheld by the courts, the federal government could mandate anything, such as requiring all Americans to purchase a General Motors car.
CNN Poll: Americans divided on repealing health care law Washington (CNN) - Most Americans disapprove of the health care reform law, but that does not translate into majority support for the "repeal and replace" strategy backed by most GOP leaders, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday indicates that 56 percent of the public disapproves of the new legislation, with 42 percent approving of the bill that President Obama signed into law last week. Tuesday the president signs into law fixes to the original legislation that were approved by Congress last week.
Obama's health care reform: VAT or Sinkhole? by Shawn Tully (Fortune) -- In President Obama's 2011 budget, a kind of fiscal "cigarette warning" appears in a box on page 146 under a table displaying a future of big deficits and mounting debt. The Administration, the warning declares, is creating a "Fiscal Commission" to "achieve sustainability over the long-run." With those bland words, the Administration is acknowledging that the immense weight of the national debt poses a dire threat to the economy, unless America takes radical action. Yet with the signing of the $931 billion healthcare overhaul, fixing future budget problems becomes far more difficult. The reform will immensely swell the amount of federal borrowing, even while the Administration touts the bill as a model of fiscal responsibility.
Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent By JOHN SCHWARTZ and ANDREW POLLACK - NYTimes.com -- A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property United States District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet issued the 152-page decision, which invalidated seven patents related to genes whose mutations have been associated to breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York joined with individual patients and medical organizations to challenge the patents last May: they argued that genes, products of nature, fall outside of the realm of things that can be patented. The patents, they argued, stifle research and innovation and limit testing options.
Companies Push to Repeal Provision of Health Law By STEVEN GREENHOUSE - NYTimes.com An association representing 300 large corporations urged President Obama and Congress on Monday to repeal a provision of the health care overhaul that prompted AT&T, Caterpillar and other companies to announce substantial charges for the current quarter. The association, the American Benefits Council, said the provision — which reduces the tax deductions for companies with drug coverage for their retired employees — would deal a significant blow to corporate profits and would discourage companies from hiring more workers.
Obama’s Medicare Nominee May Rekindle Health Debate By Drew Armstrong and John Lauerman March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Donald M. Berwick, a Harvard University scholar and long-time critic of U.S. health care, will be thrust into the political fight over the overhaul law as President Barack Obama’s choice to run Medicare and Medicaid. Obama will nominate Berwick, 63, to oversee medical programs for more than 100 million poor, elderly and disabled Americans, an administration official said March 27, insisting on anonymity. The pick, requiring Senate confirmation, follows last week’s approval of the biggest revamp of the U.S. system since the 1960s, without support from a single Republican.
Sen. Carper: ‘Not Likely’ That States Can Overturn Individual Mandate in Health Care Law By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter -- (CNSNews.com) -- Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) did not say where in the Constitution Congress is given the authority to mandate that people buy health insurance, but said it is "not likely" the states will be able to overturn the individual mandate that is in the health care bill, which was signed into law on Tuesday. So far, attorneys general from 13 states have filed lawsuits against the federal government, arguing that requiring people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional.
Carper: 'Not Likely' States Can Overturn Individual Mandate CNSNews.com interviewed Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) regarding state suing the federal government over the individual mandate in the health care law.
FDA pressured to combat rising 'food fraud' By Lyndsey Layton - Washington Post The expensive "sheep's milk" cheese in a Manhattan market was really made from cow's milk. And a jar of "Sturgeon caviar" was, in fact, Mississippi paddlefish. Some honey makers dilute their honey with sugar beets or corn syrup, their competitors say, but still market it as 100 percent pure at a premium price. And last year, a Fairfax man was convicted of selling 10 million pounds of cheap, frozen catfish fillets from Vietnam as much more expensive grouper, red snapper and flounder. The fish was bought by national chain retailers, wholesalers and food service companies, and ended up on dinner plates across the country.
GM unveils 40 mpg compact CNNMoney.com - The automaker's new Chevrolet Cruze ECO will get very high gas --mileage without relying on any hybrid technology GM unveiled details this weekend about the new Chevrolet Cruze Eco. Available later this year, the Cruze ECO will get more than 40 mpg on the highway -- without the use of hybrid technology. The car's city fuel economy hasn't been announced yet, and neither has its price. The Cruze Eco will essentially replace the Cobalt XFE high-efficiency car, since the Cobalt line has been discontinued.
Will a Tea Partyer save Harry Reid's job? By Marc A. Thiessen - WashingtonPost.com This past weekend, the Tea Party rallies moved from the steps of the U.S. Capitol to Searchlight, Nev., home of the man activists hold responsible for passage of Obamacare: Senate majority leader Harry Reid. On Saturday, traffic into the tiny mining town where Reid grew up (population 700) was backed up for miles, as 7,000 people gathered for the Tea Party Express "Showdown in Searchlight." Activists carried signs that read, "Harry: Searchlight Needs You, America Doesn't." And Sarah Palin drew raucous cheers when she told Reid, "You're fired." But will a self-proclaimed Tea Party candidate end up saving Harry Reid's job in November?
Tea and Mockery By JAMES TARANTO - WSJ.com The Bloomberg news service takes a cheap shot. As the mainstream media's campaign against the tea-party movement has grown more vicious, Heidi Przybyla, a reporter for the Bloomberg news service, decides to take a different approach: (relatively) gentle mockery. "Tea Party Advocates Who Scorn Socialism Want a Government Job," reads the headline of a dispatch she filed Friday, reporting on a new Bloomberg poll. . . . . . . . Is it really possible that Przybyla or her editors can't imagine ways in which the federal government could foster job creation other than by expanding the government payroll? The headline is designed to portray tea-party sympathizers as hypocrites and losers, but to anyone paying attention, it actually shows Bloomberg to be biased to the point of dishonesty.
Nine Charged in Militia Plot By ALEX P. KELLOGG, LAUREN ETTER AND TIMOTHY W. MARTIN - WSJ.com Michigan Religious Group Plotted Violent Government Offensive, U.S. Charges ADRIAN, Mich.—Nine members of an anti-government militia group were charged Monday with conspiring to kill a law-enforcement officer in an effort to start a "war" against the U.S. government, authorities said. The group, known as Hutaree, planned to kill an unidentified local law-enforcement officer in April and then attack local, state and federal officers who came to Michigan to attend the funeral, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan said in a 12-page indictment.
China struggles with stance on nuclear power as summit nears By John Pomfret - WashingtonPost.com -- BEIJING -- Two weeks before the United States hosts a summit on nuclear security, one of its most important invitees, China, has yet to RSVP. Chinese President Hu Jintao will be in the neighborhood for a meeting in Brazil three days after the Washington summit is scheduled to end April 13. But China's coyness in accepting an invitation that went out to the leaders of more than 40 countries reflects an uncertainty about how to deal with the Obama administration's call for a nuclear-weapons-free world and its role as a rising nuclear power, even while the United States and Russia move to cut their nuclear stocks, according to Chinese government sources and Western analysts.
China Missed Chance for Open Rio Trial, Rudd Says By Marion Rae March 30 (Bloomberg) -- China “missed an opportunity” to be transparent and give companies more confidence by hearing charges of industrial espionage against four Rio Tinto Group executives in secret, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said. China had the chance “to demonstrate to the world at large transparency that would be consistent with its emerging global role,” Rudd said in Melbourne today. There are “serious unanswered questions” about the conviction of Stern Hu, the Australian executive who led Rio’s iron ore unit in China.
Moscow Attack a Test for Putin and His Record Against Terror By CLIFFORD J. LEVY - NYTimes.com -- MOSCOW — Brazen suicide bombings in the center of Moscow on Monday confronted Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin with a grave challenge to his record of curbing terrorism, and raised the possibility that he would respond as he had in the past, by significantly tightening control over the government. The explosions, set off by female suicide bombers in two landmark subway stations, killed at least 38 people and wounded scores of others, touching off fears that the Muslim insurgency in southern Russia, including Chechnya, was once again being brought to the country’s heart.
Russia braces for terrorism's return as 38 die in subway bombings By Philip P. Pan - WashingtonPost.com -- MOSCOW -- With a pair of powerful blasts on Moscow subway cars that killed at least 38 people Monday, two female suicide bombers shattered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's claim to have contained a separatist insurgency in Russia's southwest and forced the nation's capital to brace for a terrorist comeback after several years of calm.
Suicide blasts kill 38 in Moscow subway By David Nowak ASSOCIATED PRESS Female Chechen rebels suspected in bloody strike MOSCOW | Female suicide bombers blew themselves up on Monday in twin attacks on Moscow subway stations packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 38 people and wounding more than 60, officials said. The carnage blamed on rebels from the Caucasus region follows the killings of several high-profile Islamic militant leaders there. The blasts come six years after Islamic separatists from the southern Russian region carried out a pair of deadly Moscow subway strikes and raise concerns that the war has once again come to the capital, amid militants' warnings of a renewed determination to push their fight.
UAE: Head of largest sovereign wealth fund missing DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The United Arab Emirates state news agency says the head of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund -- the world's largest -- is missing after his glider crashed in Morocco.
Pyongyang not ruled out in sinking of warship By Jean H. Lee ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL | A naval mine dispatched from North Korea may have struck the South Korean warship that exploded and sank near the Koreas' disputed sea border, the South's defense chief told lawmakers Monday, laying out several scenarios for the maritime disaster. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said there was no sign of a direct attack from rival North Korea, but military authorities have not ruled out North Korean involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan late Friday night.
Kitty Werthmann Interview
Kitty Werthmann Part 2
Kitty Werthmann Part 3
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away Fort Worth Christianity & Culture ExaminerRene Girard By: Kitty Werthmann What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books. I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote.. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force. . .
Freedoms can disappear in a hurry if we aren't careful Kitty Werthmann For the Argus Leader published: 3/11/2003 Kitty Werthmann, 77, of Pierre, is president of the South Dakota Eagle Forum. She lobbies the state Legislature on family issues. She has lived in the United States since 1950 and has been a U.S. citizen since 1962. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity. I lived in Austria under Adolf Hitler's regime for seven years. Dictatorship did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process starting with national identification cards, which we had to carry with us at all times. We could not board a bus or train without our ID card. Gun registration followed, with a lot of talk about gun safety and hunting accidents. Since the government already knew who owned firearms, confiscation followed under threat of capital punishment.
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